Ilia And Paddy Explain Friendly Fist Bump At UFC London
03/31/2025 07:03 AM
Pimblett and Topuria may not be buds, but at least they can see each other now without things escalating into a near-brawl.
No, Ilia Topuria and Paddy Pimblett are not friends after one friendly encounter at the latest UFC London weigh-ins.
Pimblett and Topuria have a longstanding feud that goes back to when both of them were just starting out in the UFC. Pimblett said some thoughtless things about the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia, and Topuria has been on his ass ever since. The two got into a physical confrontation in a London hotel days before they were to compete in 2022. And then the two had to be pulled apart at a UFC 282 press conference later that year.
Their UFC London 2025 encounter was surprisingly different when Pimblett passed Topuria on stage at the ceremonial weigh-ins. Pimblett walked over to Topuria, who was standing with UFC CEO Dana White, and gave "La Leyenda" a fist bump. According to Pimblett in a new YouTube video, it was just a funny thing to do.
"He looked at me, I was looking at him and he done that [salute] and then obviously on stage, as I walked past him we both just laughed and looked at each other. I thought it'd be quite funny to just go (fist bump) and he went like that [open hand] on my hand and high fived it."
"We might not like each other, but had a little laugh then."
Ilia Topuria also addressed the moment following a regional MMA event in Spain over the weekend.
"We just weren't in our fighting roles," he explained. "I went to support a friend of mine, he went to support another friend of his, then we met and we greeted each other. At the end of the day we are athletes. But if we enter the field of combat and we have to fight, then the story changes."
With Topuria promised a shot at the lightweight title and Paddy one or two big wins away from his own title shot, that fight could happen sooner than everyone might think.
